While the world’s media assess the death of Chechen leader, Aslan Maskhadov, largely in terms of the Russian-Chechen conflict, the repercussions of his assassination range much further. The problems faced by the Russians in Chechnya are by no means all unique: a society fractured by years of war, the prospect of a widening and deepening insurgency with a progressively more religious than nationalist agenda, and a reluctance to engage with a broad enough spectrum of erstwhile opponents to ensure a sustainable transition to an inclusive post-conflict scenario.
Yet it is difficult to sympathise with the Russians when the Kremlin insists that it has eliminated the ‘president of the Chechen terrorists’ and that a source of ‘evil’ has been eradicated. When one asks what Moscow had to gain from removing Maskhadov, some of the answers give serious grounds for concern.
